For phone numbers that do not have guaranteed availability at the time of call (such as a cell phone), current implementations of SimulRing may cause the call to be forwarded directly to the cell phone voicemail if the caller is out of range. In such cases, none of the lines ring, which defeats the utility of SimulRing.

Control Panel Interface at Vonage.com

* You would specify the phone numbers to SimulRing* Next to each Simulring number, you would have a checkbox for Auto-Forward (default checked)

How it would work

* When the phone rings, all phones in the SimulRing list ring* For each number that has auto-forward checked, if that phone answers, the call is passed through to that phone (like SimulRing works right now) and the other lines stop ringing* For each number that does NOT have the auto-forward checked, it would still SimulRing like the other numbers. However, if that phone answers, all lines continue to ring. You must press 1 for the call to actually go through.

Why is this better?

SimulRing can be safely left on all the time. It's one more step to answer calls on low reliability networks like cell phones, but it guarantees that when the call is picked up, it's a person picking it up and not the cellular network advising the caller is unavailable.

If you want SimulRing to continue work how it is now, there is no penalty. However, with the appropriate checkboxes enabled, you could have Vonage Simulring home, work, and every cell phone in the household, and low network availability on one cell phone would not penalize other's ability to answer the call.